Good morning Mick and all GN's on a very dark still morning in North Yorkshire. I can see the outline of the tree , but that is about it.
Well I am glad to be up and the last horrible night over for me. I had a lovely lunch and day with my friend, a reasonable run home, so dont know what triggered it, but have had such a horrible night. A lot of pain and couldnt find a comfortable position to sleep in. Then when I did sleep, rotten dreams and nightmares and waking up in a panic, one time breathing so fast and my heart racing, it felt horrible. I had to put the light on and read for a time to calm myself down, and then you want to go back to sleep because you are tired, but dont want a repetition of that kind of dream. Ah well its over now, and no doubt at some time (the most inconvenient ) I will fall asleep in my chair, missing some denoument of the play or let the dinner burn.
So I need to turn my thoughts onto the more mundane but important things that need doing today. Carrying on with the boring dresser sorting of course, which at the moment I have not the slightest wish to do, but more importantly I need to find a document. Have had a letter about dealing with something, but cant find the actual document at the moment. That has a reference number on it that I need to quote, and have a time limit to deal with it. So at least the fact that I am really struggling to move about , wont make much difference and , fingers crossed, I will find it , and while I am going through a file, in case it has been filed in the wrong bit, will mean that I will check dates and so forth on other things. I do keep a calendar of dates that things are due and mark the due date but then also put a reminder note for the week before, which usually works well, so can also check on these dates and fingers crossed by tonight, will have got that sorted and the calendar up to date with no horrible discovery that I havent paid something vital!!
We have been having quite a sunny day yesterday but interrupted by very heavy short bursts of rain, so hoping that this is getting down into the soil to really make the ground wet, not just dampen the top inch or two. My plants are still waiting for either me to feel able to do some weeding and planting, or find someone who is free and willing to do this. The problem round here at the moment is that there are plenty of adverts for people who will do paving and building garden things and major changes, but these are not the people to trust with precious plants that need care and careful planting - and where I want , not where they can be bothered to put them. I dont have much of a border to plant in and also have to be careful on one corner coming towards the door, near the path edge, where careless delivery men or such often walk on it, so not risking anything delicate at that point. Come to think of it I shall have to choose something quite prickly to go there and encourage people to stay on the path!! So this looks like it is going to be a total day of sorting stuff out here and must do some ironing, so plenty of things to get on with, only not much energy to begin with. Well I will be content with finding the document if nothing else gets done!!
The wind is already picking up , as it is lighter now I can see it picking up in gusts, and think the children will be out looking for conkers today. I always loved the beauty and glow of conkers getting them out of their prickly green outer covers. Sadly the glow never lasted long, but finding them and scuffing through lovely piles of crunchy leaves was a great pleasure of autumn. I used to love taking my son in his pushchair to a nearby wood and watching him loving scuffling in the leaves but always having to watch him as he would find a conker but always wanted to eat it! I love chestnuts and use them in stuffing and all sorts and I suppose he thought they were another kind of chestnut.
Mick, I hope all goes well and you get good results from your blood test. Grandmabatty, hope your morning of childcare goes well and that you have taken a photo of your sofas in their pristine beauty. That lovely first day, when you keep looking at them and touching the covers and sitting on them , and that lovely new smell, that is only there for a little time, and then they are just part of the furniture - literally!
grandMattie, All power to your elbow, as they say, for todays great run in with Teflon man. I wish there was a magic carpet to transport me to be by your side in reality today, but you will be facing him with all our mental support for you and I shall be rooting for you and if the power of thought works at all I shall be sending you much armour for the fight, and the important thing to remember is that Right is on your side. i suggest that you write a list - in capital letters - and try and put each thing that has not been done, the number of times you have raised the subject and it has been ignored etc, and on another piece attached to that list, have a different list, of the people you have contacted to complain about the lack of work done, the broken promises and their broken contract with you. You agreed to your rents etc which were agreed with a contract for them to do certain things for you in return, They have not done those things and it is not even one or two things but many, so I think they have also broken their promises and could be done under the trades description act as they have taken money from you and not delivered the goods. Of course do add in that you are collecting further evidence from the other places that they supposedly provide support, and that you are getting an overall picture of this company that local , regional and country wide newspapers and tv programmes are interested in learning how it is going. Perhaps seeing your with things listed and information gathered might make him more aware of your intention to carry on the fight and he is not going to get away with anything anymore,
Actually it doesnt matter if you havent done half of that yet. You have the intention to do things which you have not yet had time to do. Hopefully seeing this united determined front might take a bit of the teflon off his surface if nothing else! Go get him girl. We are all rooting for you. Oh , if only you were a bit nearer, I would love to jump in the car and join you for the fight. Best of luck with it all, you can always thing "Now what would Madeleine say!!" Looking forward to hearing how it went and whatever happens, you have done very well to keep scratching on the Teflon. Scratched teflon gets thrown away, hopefully he might get the sack!! Sallyforth, hope you get the jobs sorted quickly and they dont come saying they will have to go back for x and y that they have forgotten or didnt think they would need! I am sure that the important job of tea and coffee lady will help matters along. Karmalady, hope you get your seeds planted before the winds take them away. It is many years since I visited somerset, I enjoy hearing about all your efforts in your garden and imagining them in my mind. I get itchy feet looking at the map, but now is not the time to plan a long trip, but health allowing I am already thinking of places that I would like to go back to in the spring. Living up here in Yorkshire I tend to go west or north , and it is some time since I have been down south. When I used to live in London we used to go to cornwall and Dorset etc and so I have just started a little bit of research about a southern trip. Whether it would work out better to drive down, at a steady pace and add in B/B and fuel, but the comfort of my own car and all the bits and pieces I can have with me, or to look at either flying down or more likely taking the train, with my rail card, and then doing public transport and hiring a car to get to more of the wilds that are not on a transport route. Whether I shall actually get to do any of it I dont know , but I am having a look at the possibilities. I like wandering round as and where I want, and so package trips to one place are not my cup of tea, and as I do here, even when I set off to go somewhere, an interesting name of a village or a sign about something can have me changing my mind and going off down an unknown lane. Sometimes the interesting name proves a disappointment , but have often found something worth visiting and love to find myself up high somewhere with beautiful views below,. That used to be me climbing mountains and hills, but now have to be content with driving there and on good days can have a little walk. Well we shall see how things go.
In the meantime, I hope the day goes well for everyone and especially Mattie. Strap on that mental armour and go for it champion!!
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